digraphs.kak

This plugin for the Kakoune editor allows prose writers to insert Vim-style digraphs (i.e., Unicode symbols with an associated two-character code) in the text they are working on.

Symbol Set

The set of available symbols was adapted from Vim's. Whereas 33 control codes and modifiers (from U+02C7 to U+02DD) were removed, 81 printable symbols were added.

In the currency ([CURR]) category:

Code point	Description
U+20A0	EURO-CURRENCY SIGN
U+20A1	COLON SIGN
U+20A2	CRUZEIRO SIGN
U+20A3	FRENCH FRANC SIGN
U+20A4	LIRA SIGN
U+20A5	MILL SIGN
U+20A6	NAIRA SIGN
U+20A7	PESETA SIGN
U+20A8	RUPEE SIGN
U+20A9	WON SIGN
U+20AA	NEW SHEQEL SIGN
U+20AB	DONG SIGN
U+20AC	EURO SIGN
U+20AD	KIP SIGN
U+20AE	TUGRIK SIGN
U+20AF	DRACHMA SIGN
U+20B0	GERMAN PENNY SYMBOL
U+20B1	PESO SIGN
U+20B2	GUARANI SIGN
U+20B3	AUSTRAL SIGN
U+20B4	HRYVNIA SIGN
U+20B5	CEDI SIGN
U+20B6	LIVRE TOURNOIS SIGN
U+20B7	SPESMILO SIGN
U+20B8	TENGE SIGN

In the punctuation ([PUNCT]) category:

Code point	Description
U+2026	HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS
U+2027	HYPHENATION POINT
U+2042	ASTERISM
U+204A	TIRONIAN SIGN ET
U+204B	REVERSED PILCROW SIGN
U+204C	BLACK LEFTWARDS BULLET
U+204D	BLACK RIGHTWARDS BULLET
U+2051	TWO ASTERISKS ALIGNED VERTICALLY
U+2058	FOUR DOT PUNCTUATION
U+2059	FIVE DOT PUNCTUATION
U+205A	TWO DOT PUNCTUATION
U+205B	FOUR DOT MARK
U+205D	TRICOLON
U+205E	VERTICAL FOUR DOTS

In the category of letter-like symbols ([CHAR]):

Code point	Description
U+2107	EULER CONSTANT
U+2108	SCRUPLE
U+210A	SCRIPT SMALL G
U+210B	SCRIPT CAPITAL H
U+210C	BLACK-LETTER CAPITAL H
U+210D	DOUBLE-STRUCK CAPITAL H
U+210E	PLANCK CONSTANT
U+210F	PLANCK CONSTANT OVER TWO PI
U+2110	SCRIPT CAPITAL I
U+2111	BLACK-LETTER CAPITAL I
U+2112	SCRIPT CAPITAL L
U+2113	SCRIPT SMALL L
U+2114	L B BAR SYMBOL
U+2115	DOUBLE-STRUCK CAPITAL N
U+2118	SCRIPT CAPITAL P
U+2119	DOUBLE-STRUCK CAPITAL P
U+211A	DOUBLE-STRUCK CAPITAL Q
U+211B	SCRIPT CAPITAL R
U+211C	BLACK-LETTER CAPITAL R
U+211D	DOUBLE-STRUCK CAPITAL R
U+2127	INVERTED OHM SIGN
U+2128	BLACK-LETTER CAPITAL Z
U+212A	KELVIN SIGN
U+212C	SCRIPT CAPITAL B
U+212D	BLACK-LETTER CAPITAL C
U+2130	SCRIPT CAPITAL E
U+2131	SCRIPT CAPITAL F
U+2133	SCRIPT CAPITAL M
U+213C	DOUBLE-STRUCK SMALL PI
U+213D	DOUBLE-STRUCK SMALL GAMMA
U+213E	DOUBLE-STRUCK CAPITAL GAMMA
U+213F	DOUBLE-STRUCK CAPITAL PI
U+2140	DOUBLE-STRUCK N-ARY SUMMATION
U+2145	DOUBLE-STRUCK ITALIC CAPITAL D
U+2146	DOUBLE-STRUCK ITALIC SMALL D
U+2147	DOUBLE-STRUCK ITALIC SMALL E
U+2148	DOUBLE-STRUCK ITALIC SMALL I
U+2149	DOUBLE-STRUCK ITALIC SMALL J

In the misc-technical ([TECH]) category:

Code point	Description
U+2300	DIAMETER SIGN
U+2301	ELECTRICAL ARROW
U+2318	PLACE OF INTEREST SIGN
U+23E3	BENZENE RING WITH CIRCLE

As a result, 1305 Unicode symbols are available. They are stored in a plain-text datafile, digraphs.dat, which accompanies the plugin. For the plugin to work, this datafile should be installed in a digraphs subdirectory of ${kak_config}.

Note: because of a new symbol, U+212C (SCRIPT CAPITAL B), the digraph for U+25AA ([SHAPE] BLACK SMALL SQUARE) has been changed from Vim's sB to sq. All of the other digraphs are compatible with Vim's.

Writing symbols

The plugin makes available two methods to write symbols in Insert mode: symbol search and digraph conversion. Each method has different purposes and is called by pressing a different shortcut key.

The shortcut keys for symbol search and digraph conversion are configured through the digraphs-enable-on <key1> <key2> command, which you can add to your kakrcwith the key values of your choice (e.g., <a-d> and <a-k>).

A third method, selection sweep, is available in Normal mode.

Symbol search

Symbol search is best when you do not know the digraph of the symbol you are looking for, or when you are not sure. On pressing <key1> in Insert mode, a prompt will ask you to type a search string. If the search string is two-character long (e.g., =>), it will be interpreted as a digraph and a menu will show you the corresponding symbol.

If your search string is not two-character long, it will be interpreted as a search term matching Unicode descriptions. For example, searching for arrow will open a menu with ten different types of arrows. As you explore the menu, Unicode values and digraphs will be displayed on the prompt line, giving you an opportunity to remember them.

Your search term can include spaces, which will be replaced by the wildcard, .*, allowing for flexible searches (e.g., left arrow). If you want to include literal spaces, replace them with underscores (e.g., letter_a). You can also search for hexadecimal code values (e.g., 23E3).

Accepting a menu item causes the symbol to be inserted at the place of the cursor. Multiple cursors are allowed.

Digraph conversion

If you know the digraph code of the symbol you want to insert, then you can use digraph conversion instead of symbol search: just type your digraph, then <key2> in Insert mode.

Provided it is preceded by a space, the beginning of a line, or a single character after the beginning of a line, the digraph you typed will be converted into the corresponding symbol.

Two commands allow you to configure digraph conversion.

The digraphs-use-postfix <key(s)> command allows you to insert a postfix after the converted symbol. <key(s)> consists of <space> by default, but you can replace it by any other postfix, or remove it altogether with digraphs-use-postfix "".

The digraphs-include-word <yes|no>command allows you to extend conversion to the last word you typed or to always limit conversion to the last two characters. This option equals yes by default, which makes it easy to convert groups of digraphs. For example, typing:

s*o*f*o'*s<key2>

as a word will produce:

σοφóς

in one pass.

Finally, pressing <key2> after a space, at the beginning of a line, or one character after the beginning of a line, will reinsert the last inserted symbol.

Note: With the insertion postfix set to <space> (the default), pressing <key2> repeatedly will fill the line with copies of the last inserted symbol. When applied to multiple cursors, a tile of identical symbols will be produced. For example, with digraph ps:

⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘
⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘
⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘
⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘
⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘
⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘
⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘

Selection sweep (dig)

In Normal mode, calling the digraphs-sweep-selection command (alias: dig) will convert each valid digraph in your selection to the corresponding symbol. Although using dig over large sweeps of text is not generally recommended (because it is easy to have regular letter pairs converted unwittingly), the command comes in handy when drawing line diagrams or trees.

For example, typing:

a*
vrhhhhhh b*+
vrhhhhhh g*+
urhhhhhh d*+

and calling dig after selecting the three lines will produce:

α
├─── β+
├─── γ+
└─── δ+

in one sweep.

If you use dig on a regular basis, then you may want to map a normal- or user-mode key to ': dig <ret>' and add this mapping to your kakrc.

Installation

Manual

First, create a digraphs directory in $HOME/.config/kak/, and put the digraphs.dat datafile in

$HOME/.config/kak/digraphs.

Second, put the digraphs.kak plugin file somewhere in your autoload directory tree:

$HOME/.config/kak/autoload/...

You may also want to add the following line to your kakrc:

digraphs-enable-on <key1> <key2>

to have symbol search and digraph conversion enabled by default. (Of course, <key1> and <key2> should be replaced by the actual keys you want to use as shortcuts.)

With plug.kak

Assuming you have plug.kak installed, add the following to your kakrc:

plug "ftonneau/digraphs.kak" %{
    set-option global digraphs_path 'plugins/digraphs.kak'
    digraphs-enable-on <key1> <key2>
}

replacing <key1>and <key2>by the shortcut keys of your choice.

Adding custom digraphs

Because the digraphs.dat datafile is plain text, you can easily add custom digraphs to it.

Each non-empty line of the datafile has four fields. The first field is the Unicode hex value. The second field is the symbol. The third field is the symbol description (including an optional category in brackets). The fourth field is the digraph. For example:

23E3 ⏣ [TECH] BENZENE RING WITH CIRCLE b@

Regular spaces are allowed in symbol description, but the fields are tab-separated.

Related work

digraph

easydigraph.vim

unicode.vim

License

MIT